It’s over now. Football matches are ephemeral, coming and passing like so many leaves in the wind, but Liverpool will remember this one for a while alright. The Reds have ended their hoodoo. Real Madrid have been defeated.
And how they were bested. Carlo Ancelotti’s imperious outfit have been out of sorts this season but there is still nothing that can detract from Liverpool’s utter domination over the La Liga and Champions League holders, who even squandered their one flicker of hope when Kylian Mbappe, the personification of his side’s struggles, was thwarted by Caoimhin Kelleher from the spot.
Eight matches and 15 years had come and gone since Liverpool last tasted victory against their nemesis from overseas. Jurgen Klopp tried and failed, tried and failed, but suffered separate Champions League final losses against Los Blancos and a host of knockout defeats besides.
The curse is over, the chains snapped. Arne Slot’s flawless start on the continent continues, with Liverpool eight points clear at the summit of the Premier League too. Are we dreaming, Liverpool seems to ask. Did it happen? Yes, it did. This is not a fantasy, conjured up to mitigate the weight of Klopp’s departure.
Liverpool are real and alive. They are thriving. Rivals cower. Onlookers applaud. A shame Liverpool failed to sign Jude Bellingham though, eh? Ah well.
Jude Bellingham misses the mark at Anfield
Bellingham was reduced to a portion of the generational quality that has seen him become one of the most famous footballers in the world. The 21-year-old was breathtaking across his maiden year in the Spanish capital, hitting 36 goal contributions across 43 matches and lifting the La Liga and Champions League trophies.
This year, the goals have come at a trickle but the Three Lions superstar should not be judged from that angle, for he has been shifted into a more reserved midfield role. He has endured a regression though and that’s a fact.
GOAL even branded the prodigy with a 5/10 match score during his Liverpool clash, simultaneously praising Mac Allister for marshalling and negating his forward-thrusting brilliance, typically a marvel in driving forward and influencing attacking sequences to devastating effect.
Bellingham missed the mark at Anfield, but it all could have been so different. In the build-up to the European spectacle, the £333k-per-week talent claimed that a move to Liverpool “was not as close as the media made out,” before he left Borussia Dortmund to sign for Real in 2023.
The deal worth £115m has been nothing short of a bona fide success, but the Reds support will have relished the success in nullifying him under the Anfield lights nonetheless.
It would have been wonderful to have one of the game’s foremost talents plying their art at the club, for sure, but Liverpool are hardly missing him this season, right? After all, Slot’s engineering his own version in Curtis Jones.
Curtis Jones could be Slot's own Bellingham
Jones is going from strength to strength for club and for country at the moment, and he continued his stunning run of form with a dominant display against Real Madrid. In the words of writer Dan Austin, he and young Conor Bradley “made a mockery of the most prestigious team in world football”. Praise indeed.
Bellingham, the ostensibly superior player, was dwarfed by his compatriot. Jones proved that he can throw down with the best of them in the Champions League, and though he wasn’t awarded Man of the Match, there’s a compelling case to be made that he was deserving of such.
Bellingham, so often the unstoppable driving force, was unable to complete either of his attempted dribbles, indeed quieted by Mac Allister. But Jones, his opposite number, thrived in Liverpool’s midfield.
The newly-blooded England international completed four of six efforts and won seven of 11 duels too. Bellingham only won five despite challenging three more times.
Much of this is down to the fluency of Slot’s system, of course. In an alternate world, Bellingham could have been operating in red and producing a show-stopping performance.
But he wasn’t. Bellingham is one of the best players in the world but he’s not the only midfielder with dynamic skills and transitional prowess.
Jones, while not of the same calibre as Bellingham, is industrious and hugely disregarded when assessing Liverpool’s most technically proficient players.
He excelled against Los Blancos, awarded for his all-encompassing performance with a 9/10 match rating, bestowed by The Liverpool Echo’s Ian Doyle.
His ball retention is incredible. His composure and control is a thing to behold. Doyle wrote that his ball-carrying triumphed too, praising him for ‘leaving much-vaunted opposing midfielders in his wake.’
Goals scored
0.10
0.31
Assists
0.21
0.31
Shot-creating actions
2.84
3.61
Pass completion
91.2%
88.7%
Progressive passes
5.06
7.14
Progressive carries
2.12
2.91
Successful take-ons
1.45
1.68
Ball recoveries
5.63
4.08
Tackles + interceptions
2.38
2.77
Blocks
1.65
1.40
Is it any surprise that Jones is Bellingham’s most statistically similar midfielder in the world right now, as per FBref, with both blending the various elements of the craft together to serve a distinct and dynamic role?
As the underlying data tells you above, Bellingham outstrips Jones across most metrics, but Liverpool won’t care a jot about that. Curiously, though, Jones is in the same ballpark and can play the role that, perhaps, was envisaged for the Birmingham-born maestro.
Bellingham’s the better player and so on, but he wasn’t on Wednesday evening. Jones stepped up, and he’s tall and he’s proud.
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